Putin announces delivery of nuclear-capable short-range missiles to Belarus

MADRID, 25 Jun. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, received his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, in Saint Petersburg on Saturday, with whom he has agreed to deliver Iskander-M short-range missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.

"In the coming months we are going to deliver to Belarus the Iskander-M tactical systems, which, as is known, can use ballistic and cruise missiles, both in the usual configuration and in the nuclear configuration," Putin said, according to the press. Russian officer.

Putin has highlighted the need to guarantee the security of all members of the Collective Security Treaty Organization, made up of Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Russia and Belarus.

Putin has argued that the United States has deployed 200 tactical nuclear warheads, mostly atomic bombs, in the six European NATO member countries and some 257 aircraft are prepared for their potential use.

"Europe will be reduced to ashes in a nuclear war with Russia," warned Putin, who however has argued that for the moment "there is no need" to give a symmetrical response to NATO aircraft flights with nuclear weapons near from the Belarusian borders, as Lukashenko has requested.

The Russian president has raised the modernization of the Su-25 planes of the Belarusian forces and start the process of pilot training. Lukashenko had asked Putin for Russia to help Belarus "at least adjust" the planes they have at their disposal capable of carrying nuclear warheads because "you cannot joke with these NATO actions."

The Iskander-M missiles have a range of up to 500 kilometers and the capacity to carry nuclear warheads. They are the heirs of the Soviet Tochka-U.